See that? San Francisco County charges more than anybody. Why? Because it can.

And actually, it thinks you’re the deadbeat – I’ll explain.

What the SFMTA really wants is a steady supply of unlimited money, so that it doesn’t have to do anything it doesn’t want to, so that it can continue to hire and spend and hire and spend regardless of how it performs. The way to do that is to charge you hundreds of dollars a year, whether or not you ever ride on MUNI and even if you never violate any of the SFMTA’s parking rules.

Of course, back then they were talking about $180 per year, but now we’ve got to pay for our share of the Central Subway (To Nowhere, still) and ever increasing overhead, so I think we’re talking about $250 per year with a built-in increase of like 10%, or, better yet, 9.9%.

I’m not saying we’re going to see the TUF soon, or ever, actually. What I’m saying is that this is what the SFMTA people think they deserve for being the all-knowing, all-seeing bureaucracy it thinks it is.

So if you complain about getting towed, our City Family thinks, “Well, gee, we should probably be towing you EVERY YEAR.” You know, so the SFMTA can get more money, for free.

So that’s why the SFMTA Doesn’t Feel Sorry for You After Towing Your Car and charging you the highest administrative towing fee of all of America’s 3000-something counties…

“After more than 10 years of hosting one of the most anticipated race registration lotteries, lighting up the streets of San Francisco and handing out those coveted Tiffany necklaces to finishers, the Nike Women’s Half Marathon will not be returning to Union Square in 2016.”

Here’s your NIMBY problem – the Presidio and RPD don’t/didn’t mind this route, but millionaire residents of the Western Addition and the Great Sand Wastes certainly do/did.

And speaking of RPD, SFGov, DPW, the SFMTA, and all the rest of the “City Family*” Alphabet soup, they’re always happy to oblige but it’s going to cost you (NIKE) big big bucks to operate here, more here than anywhere else in ‘Merica (except possibly NYC – it can go either way, depending).

And then there’s the “bandit” issue, which we’re not supposed to talk about, but bandits is everywhere, right? So I don’t know – we probably have more than our fair share of banditas. grantedStill, I don’t think that could kill a tradition.

I don’t know. There’s a story here though – Enquiring Minds Want To Know.

What if some kind of SFGov fee got increased by like 1000% all of a sudden? What if SFGov has done the wrong thing, once again?

Static friction is what an event needs to overcome to get started here (like, OMG, it’s going to cost us how much?!), but Nike managed to overcome that reaction, a decade ago. OTOH, your kinetic, that’s what wears you down, year after year, until you just say, “Screw you guys, I’m going home.”

What’s amazing is that San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department, which in its current iteration is a money-hungry, mafia-esque outfit run by a lawyer* who worked on the Gavin Newsom campaign back in the day, relented after first trying to impose dramatically higher fees. Do you want me to cite all the annual events that the RPD has fee’d to death under the Ginsburg Regime? I could do it. Except now I’ll need to take Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic off of that list.

This lowering of RPD’s highly inflated fees is unprecedented, is it not?

1987 or older year limit for vehicles. no vehicles larger than 3/4 ton pickup. No other vehicles allowed on meadow. No exceptions. No in & outs.

No vendors or amplified music. Please respect the Park and its neighbors. The SFPD will be on duty and issue citations for traffic and parking violations.

San Francisco Old Car Picnic benefits programs for the developmentally disabled.

Bring your BBQ! Bring your camera! Everyone is welcome!!!”

All right, see you there!

*I’ll tell you, compared with this irate lady, I came down on the other side of the Stow Lake Boathouse vendor issue, and the Beach Chalet soccer field issue as well, but she’s spot-on on the subject of Phil Ginsburg, who dreams of becoming Mayor, someday:

“For Ginsburg, who began using the words “privatization” and “Golden Gate Park” together almost immediately after his jogging buddy, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, appointed him, Stow Lake is just the beginning. If Ginsburg has his way, every inch of Golden Gate Park will be “privatized” and bringing in boatloads of cash. Ginsburg left his position as Newsom’s chief of staff in 2008, citing as the reason the ambiguous “desire to spend more time with his family.” Evidently he quickly grew tired of his family because he accepted the Rec and Park job just one year later, even though he had no experience managing parks. In August of last year, he quietly fired every Rec and Park director (the low-paid people who actually do the hands-on work) and hired more six-figure middle managers. Each is expected to generate revenue up to 10 times the amount of their salaries, effectively turning them into sales people.”

“On May the Fourth, the How Weird Street Faire will fill the streets of San Francisco with a celebration unlike anything you’ve experienced before… HOW WEIRD IN OUTER SPACE! An epic journey to a place of weirdness and creativity and peace. How Weird features galactic-class music and art, dancing, performances, technology exhibits, unique vendors from across the planet, and thousands of people in colorful costumes.

You are invited to participate in the greatest street faire in the galaxy, and the start of the San Francisco festival season. Explore the furtile breeding ground for unexpected inspiration and cutting-edge innovation. Be creative at the expanding Art Alley, a vortex of varied expressions. Make new connections, and reconnect with old ones. Together, we will boldly go where no street faire has gone before.

The How Weird Street Faire showcases the full spectrum of electronic dance music styles, using advanced sound technology to fill the streets of San Francisco with the vibrations of peace and the frequencies of fun. There will be 10 stages of some of the best music, art, and sound systems in the galaxy, produced by some of the best sound collectives in the universe.

For 2014, How Weird Street Faire introduces the first National Dance Week stage, featuring dancers of every kind from every place, showcasing the diversity of terrestrial bodies in motion. There will be free dance lessons throughout the day, and a special flash mob that you can participate in. The National Dance Week stage will be next to the center intersection, and dancing will be found throughout the faire. All existence is in a complex dance of energy and vibrations, continuously moving and evolving. Dance is perhaps the best way of describing and understanding life, the cosmos, and ourselves.

Art has a way of reaching the farthest places. This year, How Weird will expand Art Alley and move it to Tehama Street. Come create at the new location, and enjoy the live and exhibited artwork and interactive Art Alley mural. Art Alley is curated by ArtIsMobilUs, a non-profit mobile public art gallery and roving arts incubator bringing art to humans everywhere.

There is a $10 requested donation at the entrances to the faire, for which you will receive a Magic Sticker. The Magic Stickers are worth hundreds of dollars in savings, and come with many free things. There will be discounts and specials at all of the vendors at the faire, and all of the faire bars. The Magic Stickers are how people can support the faire, while getting something great back in return. Check the website for all of the Magic Sticker specials.

The How Weird vendors offer many unique and creative goods for sale, including designer clothing, jewelry, art, decorations, games, and more. And there will be plenty of tasty food and drinks. This year will also feature local arts and crafts vending on Art Alley.

Costumes are required at How Weird. Come as yourself. Come as someone else. Come as something weird. Be the you you’ve always wanted to be. Space-related costumes are big this year.

The faire is open to all ages, and is handicapped accessible. The main entrance is at Howard and New Montgomery Streets, a short walk to MUNI, BART, the Transbay Terminal, and Caltrain Station. For those arriving from above, the coordinates are 37°47’12.4″ N, 122°23’53.7″ W. Join us as we journey through the cosmos in search of new and exciting experiences, expanding our perspective to the universal scale.

The How Weird Street Faire is a project of the non-profit World Peace Through Technology Organization, showing that in spite of our differences, we all dance to the same beat.